Apple faces fresh antitrust complaint, this time from Chinese developers
- Friday, August 11th, 2017
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A Chinese law firm has reportedly filed a complaint against Apple on behalf of local developers for an alleged breach of antitrust regulations.
The 28 local developers are being represented by Beijing-based Dare & Sure Law Firm, which accuses Apple of charging excessive fees and removing apps from the Chinese App Store without valid explanation.
“During its localisation process Apple has run into several antitrust issues … after an initial investigation we consulted a number of enterprises and got a very strong response,” Lin Wei, an attorney at the law firm, told Reuters.
The law firm invited developers to join the complaint in April before filing it to China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the National Development and Reform Commission, earlier this week – though the details of the developers involved has not been disclosed by the law firm.
According to an Apple spokeswoman, the “guidelines for publishing apps on the App Store were consistent across all countries, and that it was in the process of expanding its local developer relations team”.
Despite Apple’s issues, and being forced to remove a host of apps, in China, the Chinese App Store still remains the company’s most profitable store around the world.
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